Nothing Ever Changes
by The-Lime-Raven
Summary: Post-DOTM Bayverse. Samuel realizes she's Samantha. TransGirl!Sam, TW for light dysphoria. Trans tomboys need love, too.
1. Realization

written hella late so let me know if theres any typos and if youre cissexist ill use your corpse as a halloween decoration

trans!sam fic. discovering identity based on me and my friends experiences. obvs not all girls journeys to discovery are gonna be like this.

kind of a vent fic. remembered a friends dad threw out her panties and I thought it was funny unit i remembered she was trans and her dad is... an assbutt. shes doing fine now.

uhhhh post DOTM?

* * *

><p>She realized she was a girl when Carly said her shirt looked nice. Her shirt had nothing to do with it, it didn't jog her memory, it wasn't even a particularly feminine shirt. At least she thought it wasn't. It actually was from her mom's closet and ended up in her laundry the day she packed up and left, but she never knew that, and her mother just thought Mojo ate it.<p>

When Carly passed by she didn't even notice she suddenly had a girlfriend.

Couldn't she see the whole world had changed? What the hell was she gonna do?

* * *

><p>Her world hadn't changed, she just saw it in a different way. Or rather, she was aware of how she had always seen it. It was alright, could be worse.<p>

First thing she did, after surfing the tsunami of the internet for resources and coming to terms that yes, she was a girl, was find a name.

She called her mom and casually asked what name would they have chosen for a daughter.

Of course, Judy gasped "Congratulations! Ron, we're having grandchildren."

It took too many minutes to explain. "No, Carly's not pregnant, I was just wondering."

Her dad's voice replaced her mom's. "Oh, that's easy. Samantha."

Jesus her parents were dumb.

So. Samantha. She could still go by Sam.

That was the easy part.

* * *

><p>Carly took it surprisingly well. Didn't even have to explain the whole trans thing to her. She was too perfect. Sam was worried she'd leave or scream. She tried preparing for the worst, but she didn't know what the worst was.<p>

"You don't want to break up?"

Carly stroked her girlfriend's cheek. "Of course not, I'll be with you every step of the way for your transition. Nothing changes." She pecked her cheek. "And Samantha is a beautiful name."

"Really? 'Cause, I thought it was kinda lame. I mean, Samuel? Samantha?"

* * *

><p>Bumblebee didn't give a shit. Called her Samantha, no questions asked. He did ask if he should tell the others, though.<p>

"Not yet. Let's get everybody together, and we'll tell them together. Sound like a plan?"

"_And nothing changes | Nothing ever changes,_" Laura Jane Grace's voice sang from Bee's radio.

Sam smiled. "Yeah, Bee. Thanks."

* * *

><p>Carly took her shopping.<p>

"Shit," Sam said as they walked by the men's section.

"What's wrong?" Carly asked, worried.

"I'm a tomboy." Nobody gave a shit about butch trans women. Was she still a girl is she liked boy things? Carly liked boy things and she- Well, Carly was cis, no one questioned her. No one had questioned Sam either, yet, but she still had to prepare for the worst. Whatever it was.

"Well, if we're going to be lesbians, might as well look like ones," she teased.

Right. Go from one stereotype straight into another. "I'm still gonna grow out my hair, though." Didn't want to look too boyish. She was boyish enough.

* * *

><p>The dressing rooms were pink. Figures. The security guard have them a weird look but shrugged them off and let them pass.<p>

"How do you even stand these?" Sam turned around in the mirror, trying to fit her phone in her pocket. "Are- Are these sewn on?"

"You get used to them. They do make cargo pants for girls. I always wore my brother's instead, though."

Carly saw her girlfriend's distraught face. "Sam, what's wrong?"

"Girls don't do this." Pants fell from her hands and tears fell from her face.

"Samantha, of course girls do this." Carly pulled her close and hugged her shaking body. "You're a girl and you're doing this. I'm a girl and I'm doing this. All girls are different. We're just two that do do this."

Sam's trembling stopped. Carly wiped her eyes. "Dysphoria?"

"Yeah," Sam sniffed.

"Feeling better?"

She melted a little into the circular rubbing on her back. "Yeah. Th-Thanks."

In the end Sam had an orange-green plaid flannel jacket that matched absolutely nothing else, two pairs of jeans that made her phone fall out of when she sat down, and some women's sneakers with a basic monochrome print.

* * *

><p>Her parents didn't understand.<p>

Even when she showed up with a high ponytail, that ugly flannel jacket, Carly's shirt that said 'I WOKE UP LIKE THIS', jeans with rhinestone pockets, and a yellow manicure.

"If you're gay, why do you have a girlfriend? Unless you're a boy, too." Ron didn't mean to be hostile but it seeped into his voice anyhow when he turned to his daughter's girlfriend.

Sam had been perfecting her false, aloof attitude towards stupidity. She couldn't break down in front of her parents. The online forums said it didn't help. Sam could only do this once, so she had to make it count. "Dad, I'm gay. Of course I have a girlfriend."

Ron blinked.

"Samantha's a lesbian," Carly clarified.

Judy cried, "Are you?"

"No, I'm straight, but I love Sam." Carly looked at her girlfirend out the corner of her eye. "She's still the same person I fell in love with. Nothing changes."

Holy shit she LOVED her. Told her parents straight up she LOVED her. Guh. Sam wanted to smother her in a hug.

Ron and Judy looked at each other. "Alright, son-"

"Dad, please call me 'daughter' or 'kid' or-or something else. But not 'son'. Please." Sam's voice cracked a bit.

"Alright, _daughter_. Your mom and I don't really get this, but if it makes you happy, we're happy."

"We should go shopping sometime! Just us three girls!" Judy was already planning girl things to do with the daughter she always wanted. "You look exactly like a Samantha," she squealed.

Sam saw her dad's dimmed expression. "I still like sports."

Ron's ears perked up. "Right! Lesbians love sports!"

Sam and Carly shared a look.

Well, they were getting there.


	2. Grade E

introducing the trope of the military paying for everything Sam & Carly need in exchange for saving the world because someone needs to get paid and transformers cant use human money

idk who was alive at thst point? sticking to canon as much as possible despite how much we all know jazz and ironhide never died nope. and what did Charlotte Mearing DO?

* * *

><p>Estrogen costed a lot. Samantha didn't know how she could pay for it. Maybe the army could pay for it, like college? But she'd have to come out to everyone. She knew she had to at some point, but that didn't mean she was any less scared of rejection or worse, violence. Statistics were scary. At least she was white?<p>

* * *

><p>She promised Bumblebee they'd tell everyone together. It took a few calls and arranging, but she got everybody together.<p>

Bumblebee sat cross-legged behind Sam, Carly, and her parents; Lennox on his chair with Epps occupying the screen of a laptop Lennox held, skyping from D.C.; Ratchet and Optimus kneeled, considering the humans' point of view, still looking dignified and professional. Other people she'd met over the years and the remaining Autobots were present as well.

Sam hid her hair under a baseball cap. It was hard swirling eight inches of hair in place, but bobby pins helped. Carly's shirt was under her buttoned up ugly flannel. She wore her old jeans. Standing with her arms crossed over her chest, to hide her manicure, she cleared her throat into her shoulder.

"I called you all here for a reason." She adjusted her stance and looked at her sneakers. "I'm a girl. I'm- I'm trans. My name is Samantha, so you can still call me Sam and stuff, but don't call me he. Or his, him, himself, none of it. She. I'm a she, her, herself, lady, woman, girl. Kid. That's fine, too. But not Samuel. I'm Samantha."

Carly whispered in her ear, "And you're a tomboy so you still like all the things you used to."

"Can you do it? My voice-" It kept cracking. She didn't know whether to go with her voice or Samuel's voice.

"Yes." She said to everyone else, "Samantha's a tomboy, we're still dating, she's my girlfriend. She's the same person you've always known."

Sam let her hair down and unbuttoned her shirt. She didn't want to look at their faces.

Everyone spoke at once.

"Good thing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is gone."

"Niiiiiiiice."

"Samantha Witwicky, it is nice to see you embracing your true self."

"Tomboy? Shit, I thought Carly was pregnant, or you were dying."

"KNEW IT!"

"Eh, overheard ya talkin' other day, seen you around the house. Dunno why I'm here."

"Nice name, Samantha. Suits ya."

"That's it?"

"I didn't even know your name before, you were just that kid with the hot rod and hot girl."

"Female humans typically have higher estrogen level."

Sam flinched, unprepared for a direct fact.

"That's another thing she'd like to tell you about."

God bless Carly.

"Yeah." Sam cleared her throat. "I need estrogen. It's expensive, but I can't transition without it. The military paid for school, so I was hoping..."

Mearing stepped forward. "I suppose it can be arranged."

Sam wondered why she was sweating, and why it was only on her face, when she realized she was crying from happiness. "Thank you," she sobbed.

"If she's this emotional without the pills, can't wait to see her on 'em."

Judy elbowed her husband.

* * *

><p>PSA TO CIS PEOPLE:<p>

Not everybody who is trans wants to transition! not everybody can afford it! some trans people get surgery! some dont! all trans people are different, just like cis people.

if someone comes out as trans to you, ask them what pronouns and name they use. if someone tells you to call them he/him/his/himself you do that even if he likes dresses. and they/them/themself is also a singular pronoun. Those are my pronouns, btw. not all trans people are boys and girls.

and just because someones birth name has an 'opposite' form, like Samuel and Samantha, doesnt mean someone will do that. One of my friends names is Alex, her real name is Alexandra. her birth name begins with a J.


End file.
